The invention relates generally to beam members used in concrete forming apparatus and, more specifically, to a lightweight steel beam member of trapezoidal cross section having a top portion that is penetrable by a hand driven nail for the attachment of sheeting to the beam member.
Concrete forming systems are well known and widely used in the construction of diverse concrete structures. Certain of these systems make use of beam sections or soldiers as upright and horizontal structural members, inclined braces, columns, shores, walers, and the like. One such beam section or soldier is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,256. In concrete forming systems utilizing beam sections and in a large variety of other types of concrete forming systems, sheeting or decking is frequently used to create a substantially flat concrete forming surface for the forming of horizontal floor or roof sections and vertical wall sections. Such forms employ a plurality of beam members placed across and secured to other structural members of the concrete forming system such as the beam sections or soldiers described above.
An example of a typical prior art beam member is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,899,152. The described prior art beam member is formed of extruded aluminum and has an upper, inverted top hat shaded portion which receives a strip of wood into which the sheeting or decking is nailed or screwed. While the extruded aluminum beam members are lightweight and, with the inclusion of the wooden nailing strip, have satisfactory deflection resistance, aluminum is expensive and the wooden nailing strip adds to the weight of the assembled beam member.